She’d wandered away from their upstate New York home earlier this month and was struck and killed by a motorist on Route 22.

As they stood by the side of the road, pondering how to handle the situation, they were approached by Trooper Louis E. Godfroy IV.

“What would you like to do with her body?” Godfroy gently asked the griefstricken elderly couple.

They asked if he could take her away; they couldn’t afford to pay someone to bury her on their sprawling property.

“Oh no, you guys aren’t going to hire anyone,” Godfroy said.

Placing the dog in his patrol car, he followed them home, laying Hoku in an old barn before finding a proper site for the burial with Henry Meininger.

“I cannot move very well because I had a stroke and I am 92 years old, so I couldn’t lift her,” Meininger told the Times Union.

The trooper returned the next day — during his time off — and laid the dog to rest in a former hay field on the 24-acre property.

Godfroy is “just an amazingly wonderful person,” Meininger said. “He was so accommodating.”

Days later, he stopped by to see how the couple was doing in the wake of their loss.

“We talked about how many dogs they’d had over the years, the kinds of dogs,” Godfroy said.

Hoku was “a very beautiful dog, very affectionate,” Meininger said. “The worst part of it, aside from me missing her, is our cat, Nina, and the dog were very good friends. The cat is now very lonely.”

The Meiningers, originally from New York City, had moved upstate to the town of Austerlitz decades ago, Godfroy said. Hoku was the most recent of more than a dozen family pets whose love and company they’d enjoyed over the years.

“I kind of had a connection to these people,” the trooper said, describing his own 3-year-old golden retriever as “spoiled rotten.”

“I’ve lived in Columbia County for almost 50 years and I’m not surprised that people are good here,” Meininger said.

“I didn’t do it for the ‘attaboy’ or the publicity,” Godfroy said. “I felt bad that a nice couple’s faithful friend got hit,” he said.

“I was so flabbergasted. Why would this young man do this? I tried to offer him money but he kept saying, ‘What I want is a handshake,’” Meininger said. “He is a charming young man. I can’t say enough about the trooper.”

Godfroy didn’t even tell his colleagues about burying the dog.

Meininger’s friend posted about him on Facebook and it went viral. Afterwards, Godfroy received a a deluge of texts from his fellow police officers. One said, “That’s what a trooper should be,” while another said, “You’re doing everyone proud.”

The State Police issued a release about the good deed, as well.

Anyone with information on who struck and killed Hoku is asked to call the State Police New Lebanon barracks at 518-794-8445. An investigation is ongoing.

The post Off-Duty Trooper Helps Elderly Couple Bury Beloved Dog appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

This is a statement from the Newport News Police Department’s Facebook page:

Yesterday, MPO Poe responded to a car accident near Riverside Hospital. One of the driver’s had her dog, Freedom, with her and needed help with Freedom while she got checked out and made the necessary phone calls. MPO Poe, being a former K-9 handler, jumped at the chance to hang out with Freedom.

Today, we received multiple messages from citizens wanting to commend MPO Poe for his assistance and professionalism.  The driver who was involved in the accident sent us this picture and said, “I cannot thank the department enough. He was amazing and protected my baby.”

Another citizen said, “Kudos to your officer who aided at an accident on August 28th and gave aid and comfort to Freedom, the dog and his owner. I come from 3 generations of police officers from New Haven, Connecticut and it is heartening to hear praise for these fine men and women. Far too often we forget that policing is a difficult job and criticize those who literally put their lives on the line on a regular basis.”

Thank you MPO Poe for going above and beyond!

Here are a couple of comments from the comment thread on the post:

Shelia Wroten-Thompson My daughter is the owner of Freedom.  I live in Mathews Co. which is one hour away.  I was relieved knowing my daughter was in caring hands until I could arrive to be with her.  Thank you Officer Poe for taking care of Freedom and Amanda.  You sir are my hero.

Kimberly Poe Officer Poe is my wonderful husband. He is an amazing husband, father and officer.  He is amazing in his profession. All these wonderful comments give me goose bumps. Xoxoxo

The post Police Officer Assists Dog After Car Accident appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

Andrey Pinzón Trujillo told the BBC he and a group of co-workers do this every Thursday night. They always plan to spend about to hours walking the streets and feeding the homeless and sick dogs, but most Thursday nights they walk until close to midnight.

This service started about a year ago when Pinzón Trujillo volunteered in a pet health fair. During the event, local area dogs (including the homeless) received vaccines. While volunteering, the officer came across a young stray dog he fell in love with and the little dog became the officer’s inspiration to do something more to help pets in need.

Pinzón Trujillo was thinking of buying a pure breed dog, but when he met the young dog the idea of buying a pet went out the window and instead the officer decided to save the stray by adopting it.

The dog is now named Beto, and he too comes along each Thursday night to walk the street with his humans and other police officers to feed the strays. Some of those strays are Beto’s street friends.

The officer might not be able to take every single dog home, or find homes for all the strays, but he at least is inspiring people to come out and help those in need. While not all dogs find a home, they at least get a good meal.

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